Life of a Shinobi
by Xizor159
Summary: This is the life of a shinobi. We follow the lives of team seven, and what may happen to them in the future. There will be pairings later, but they won't be obvious very early on, and they won't happen until much later. My first real naruto fic. Rated for
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. You know who does.

**A/N:** This is my first real attempt at a Naruto fic, so I wouldn't be surprised it if it's a little sub-standard, but I am an experienced writer, and so it won't be SO bad. I hope you can enjoy. I won't even hint at pairings, even though I know which one I want and exactly how the story's gonna end. It's just getting there that'll be hard.

**This is the Life of a Shinobi**

It was an average day in the Hidden Village of Konoha. Academy students were learning, little children were running around, Genin teams were off doing boring D rank missions, and other ninja were training with their friends or by themselves. It was an average day. At least, for most people.

However, today was a special day for one team. It marked the two-year anniversary of their being a team. It also marked the one-year anniversary of when their friendship had been tested. Team seven celebrated today with anticipation and excitement. Two years ago, they had been split, but now, they really were one cohesive unit.

Uzumaki Naruto was the happiest. For the few weeks that followed his successful retrieval of Uchiha Sasuke, he had been depressed. He was worried for the well-being of his team-mate, who he had been forced to render unconscious. Sasuke had remained in this comatose state for a month or so in the hospital, even with the nursing of the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade. Even Haruno Sakura, who spent most of her time with the unconscious Uchiha during this time, wasn't as worried about him as Naruto was. She knew that Sasuke would get better, and she told this to Naruto all the time. But he still worried.

However, after Sasuke had recovered, Naruto had perked right up again. He had kept his word, and not gone back on his way of the Ninja. And now, a year later, they celebrated their two years of friendship, and their one year of brotherhood. They really were like siblings now, after all they'd been through. Sasuke had thought about what Naruto told him, about bonds and all of that. He thought about how strong they really had become in Konoha, and how his brother had become strong in Konoha. He realized that he should stay, and after he was cleared of his missing-nin status, he resumed missions with team seven.

"Let's go somewhere nice today, eh?" Sakura said, looking hopefully at Sasuke and Naruto (but mostly Sasuke). Naruto's eyes lit up, while Sasuke merely acknowledged her with a quiet, "hai".

"Hey, Sakura-chan, where should we go?" Naruto said, excitement sewed into all of his words, his tone sounding just as happy as he should.

"Hmmm, let's go to a good seafood restaurant. I haven't had seafood in a while. What about you, Sasuke-kun?" she said, once again looking at the Uchiha with a glint in her eyes.

"Seafood is fine with me. Let's hurry and go," he said, and turned to walk down the streets of Konoha to the nearest seafood restaurant.

When they arrived there, they put in their names and had to wait for only five minutes before they were seated. They enjoyed their lunch as they watched the food be cooked right in front of them, and it was as delicious as they had expected. Naruto offered to pay the bill, but when he pulled out his frog wallet, he noticed that it was depressingly small. He only had enough to cover his portion of the tab. He looked on regretfully as Sasuke and Sakura paid their own portion of the tab, and they all contributed to the tip.

As they left, something very strange happened. A soggy, crushed orange came flying out of nowhere at such a high speed that it splattered right into Naruto's face before he had time to react.

"Go to hell!" a drunken man said in a slur as he staggered around, waving a very non-sober finger at Naruto. All the boy ninja could do was gape in surprise at the man. Sakura had gasped, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow, thinking, _is this some kind of joke?_

"Hey you bastard, go home before you get killed by pissing off the wrong person," Sakura said, rage in her voice. Normally, she might have laughed at Naruto, but things were different now, especially on their special day. The man just laughed.

"Lil' girl, don't you be telling me what to do," he said through hiccups and a very strong slur. It was then that Sasuke and Naruto froze, each sensing a dangerous level of killing intent, and stared at Sakura. Here eyes demanded the man's blood.

"Why you..." she said, rolling up her sleeve menacingly and was about to stalk over to the man when she felt a hand grab her arm. She turned her head, surprised to see that Naruto had stopped her from going after the man. All he did was shake his head, and she turned to look back at the man as Naruto did, but before she had fully taken her eyes off of her team-mate, she saw a momentary pain and sadness in his blue eyes, and it tore her apart to think that someone so cheery, someone so kind was in some sort of pain, and was hated by people who didn't even know him.

"Let's go," Sasuke said, breaking the silence, and he turned on his heel towards his own home. As he walked away, he said over his shoulder, "Naruto, you should go home and wash up. We can meet a little later, after you've cleaned up."

Somehow, this made Naruto feel better, Sakura too. So they both walked around the man towards Naruto's house, which, though he still had sticky orange all over him, Naruto was delighted that Sakura was walking with him to _his_ house. Sakura could tell that Naruto was excited about this occurrence, which is the only reason she allowed it to occur at all.

When they got to Naruto's apartment building, the boy led her up the stairs to his apartment, and he then invited her in and offered her a chair. He quickly went to his bathroom and closed the door. Sakura heard running water, rustling clothes, and a few clanks and thuds, but after about five or so minutes, Naruto emerged in a fresh orange jumpsuit without any orange juice on his body. _He sure cleans up fast_, she thought amusingly. She didn't realize she had been staring at him, and only realized this after she saw the slight pink hue on Naruto's cheeks. _Sheesh, still has a crush on me I guess. I'd toy with him, but I don't think today's a very good day to do that._

"Let's go back outside and talk a walk around the village. Please?" he asked that last one in a mock-pleading voice, to try and get her to laugh. She laughed at it, and said that she'd like that. As they walked down the stairs, Naruto saw another one of the tenants in the building come up; it was the drunk man from before. He knew that he had recognized him. As they passed, the man shot an angry glare back at the pair, but they ignored him, which only enraged him.

"You stupid boy, look at me when I look at you! Don't you dare ignore me, the great Sabu-sama, the one who defeated the all migh-"

"Naruto, what is that screeching noise I hear? It's like nails on a chalkboard."

Naruto laughed before saying, "I think you're talking about that child up there who's yelling at us."

They both laughed, and silently smirked as the man came plummeting down the stairs at them, screaming how he was going to kill them. Without warning, both were behind him, and his eyes widened in fear. As he slowly turned his head, he saw both of them glaring at him from about two steps above him in the stairwell. His heart was beating very quickly, and his throat had gone dry.

"I-if you'll excuse m-me, I'd like to get to my apartment. P-please?" the fear was very evident in his voice. Both ninja slowly separated to make a path between them, and as soon as he could fit through, he bolted up the stairs and out of sight. Both ninja started laughing hysterically.

"What a pathetic man," Naruto said between laughs. He continued to laugh long after Sakura had stopped, which in itself wasn't unusual, but it was the way he laughed that caught her attention. It sounded forced. But it didn't sound any different from when Naruto usually laughed. In fact, she realized, most of his laughter sounded this way. So why was she noticing it now, as if it were unusual? And then she realized that he had been genuinely laughing right after the man had disappeared.

_Poor Naruto,_ she thought, her eyes drooping in sadness a little as they walked, _he deals with this every day._

And that's the life of Naruto, just one shinobi in the village of Konoha. At least, for now...

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That's actually quite a poor opening chapter, if I do say so myself, but it's just the intro chapter, so we'll see how things go. Please, read and review. I'll hopefully have Chapter 2 up soon .


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I hate doing this, but whatever. I don't own Naruto, you know who does.

**A/N**: Here's chapter 2, and now the story will finally start going somewhere. The first chapter was just introducing you to the kind of way I've interpreted Naruto. People dislike him, but not everyone passionately hates him. Only a few, such as Sabu-sama (or Sabu-baka, whichever one works for you) hate him. You'll find out why eventually. Also, in this chapter, I'm going to hint at two or three possible pairings, but only one will really happen, and so I'm going to do this just to keep you guys guessing. I hope you enjoy.

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Sakura and Naruto met up with Sasuke outside of Ichiraku Ramen shop, where they always met. The owner asked if they wanted a bowl, but they said they had already eaten, which earned them one very sour face. Brushing it off, they proceeded to the training grounds where they had originally taken the infamous "bell test".

When they arrived there, they saw the blue stone with all the names of the people killed in action, and could have sworn they had sensed someone else there, but had ignored it when they saw nobody else. They each sat on one of the three logs where they could have been tied up had the test gone a little differently. Naruto, of course, sat on the middle one where he himself had truly been tied up two years ago.

"This really brings back memories," he expressed what he had been thinking to his two team-mates, which brought them both out of their own reveries and back into reality.

"Sure does," Sasuke said off-handedly, but Sakura merely looked up to the sky.

"I wish Kakashi-sensei had been with us today, he _was_ supposed to meet us here," _that idiot, ditching us like this!_ Inner Sakura screamed in rage, while Naruto and Sasuke merely chuckled, both remembering how their sensei had promised to spend this special day with them.

Whether he could tell they had been thinking about them, or it was just coincidence, Kakashi appeared out of the trees just a few yards away from them, waving his hand at them, his visible eye curved in a smile.

"Yo!" he said enthusiastically, while Sakura and Naruto pointed at him, shouting, "You're late!"

"Well, you see, on the way here I met a wayward Penguin, and I had to help him get home, so..."

"Liar!" They both shouted at once, and then there was a sort of awkward silence. But after only a few seconds, all four of them burst into genuine laughter, Naruto the loudest of them all. Sakura looked happily at her hyperactive team-mate, relieved to see that he was truly laughing, not that fake forced laugh he usually produces. She was even more relieved when he was the first to stop laughing, showing his true happiness.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, do you remember what today is?" Naruto asked eagerly. The glimmer of happiness showed clearly in his eyes. Sakura giggled while Sasuke gave a light chuckle. Kakashi looked at Naruto quizzically, before closing his eyes for a moment.

"Hm, I can't say that I do," he said, opening his eye. Naruto's jaw dropped rather dramatically, and they all started laughing again. After their laughter subsided, Kakashi spoke again, "Naruto, of course I know what today is. How could I forget, given our current environment?" He motioned around, looking at the landscape. As his eyes swept past the cenotaph, he closed his eyes, as if showing respect.

"Kakashi-sensei...I've been wondering for a while. Why do you spend so much time at that stone?" Sakura asked innocently.

Kakashi turned to look at her, a momentary sadness showing in his eye as he spoke gravely, "I'm why someone whom I cared deeply for has his name on there."

His voice was somber and regretful, yet at the same time, hopeful. " 'Ninjas who break the rules are scum, but ninjas who betray their friends are even worse scum.' the man on there that I'm referring to said that to me shortly before he died. It's why we became friends. Uchiha Obito, the one who gave me my sharingan."

The whole group was quiet as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura absorbed this information. Sasuke offhandedly wondered how long ago this Uchiha Obito had lived. Maybe he'd said that before Itachi had...he stopped at that thought, and opened his mouth to ask what he had been silently wondering.

"Long before I met you. A little after I became a jounin, actually. I was only thirteen at the time," Kakashi said, staring up towards the sky. "I owe the kind of ninja I am now to him. He taught me the most valuable lesson I'd ever learned. My best friend, even if only for a moment." Somehow, this isn't what they had all imagined their special day would be like, but the surprising thing was how their sensei was openly telling them about his past. "But," he said, getting their attention, "I won't tell you more than that. It's better suited for another time. Now, how are we going to celebrate this day?" he said, his voice very cheery as he asked them that question. Sasuke, in an uncharacteristic display, suggested that they go to the new Konoha park, and just reminisce about the past. Naruto and Sakura liked the idea, and Kakashi wasn't going to deny his friends something so simple. Three fourteen year-olds talking about their time together could be interesting.

So they left to go to the park. It had no real name, just "Konoha Park". When they arrived, they picked out a pair of benches that faced each other, practically perfect for the kind of thing they had planned on doing. And so they sat down, Sasuke and Naruto on one bench, with Sakura and Kakashi on another. Nobody noticed someone's very slight blush at these sitting arrangements.

"So, what should we talk about first?" Kakashi asked, clapping his hands together and rubbing them back and forth as he did so. Sakura's face lit up within a second or two.

"Remember our first _real_ mission? To the Country of the Wave?" she asked, excitement in her voice as she thought about the trying and thrilling adventure.

"How could we forget?" Sasuke said, smiling slightly. He remembered how he had nearly died trying to protect Naruto from the incredibly strong Haku and his master technique. He blushed a little bit as Naruto brought up that very same subject.

"I seriously thought you had died. I was about ready to throttle that kid, but somehow he stopped me. I don't know why, but I didn't want to kill him after a minute, but when he reminded me of how you had died, I was again filled with rage. It was strange..." Naruto said, his voice trailing off, before he started up again, "but that Zabuza! He scared me!"

They all laughed at this statement, because it had been undeniably true the first time they met the Mist Ninja. He had scared Naruto out of his wits, but when they all thought of this, Sakura spoke up.

"But that first battle, Naruto is the one who came up with the plan that saved Kakashi-sensei from that hydro-prison. That was a scary battle. I used to be so useless."

"Who says you aren't still?" Naruto teased at her before she smacked him on the head, shouting "idiot!" and giving him the death glare that all girls develop the ability to make at some point in their lives. They all laughed at this after a minute. The day was filled with lots of good laughter. Sasuke was even smiling. He hadn't done that much since...he had been betrayed by the only person who he thought of as brother before Naruto. Somehow, the gravity of the day hit him, and it made him open up a little more. He enjoyed the company of his only existing family.

They sat there in comfortable silence for a good ten minutes, before Naruto spoke up, "We need to participate in the next Chuunin Selection Exam. We haven't done that since the one that Orochimaru ruined. I can't be a Genin forever, that'll only make it harder for me to become the Hokage one day!" he said as enthusiastically as ever, not bothering to consider that he was probably scaring off nearby small animals with the power of his voice.

Sakura giggled and said, "We wouldn't want to scare away all the little rookies though, would we? We're stronger than Lee-san's team was when we all participated together, and _they_ were scary back then." The talk of Team Gai brought on a whole new plethora of conversation. They talked about Neji's status as a jounin, and how Gaara was now the Kazekage and all that, and then they started talking about their relation with Sunagakure no Sato.

"I hope they send some good ninja to the next exam. I don't think I can be scared of any of them after fighting with Gaara," Naruto said, and Sasuke nodded his head in silent agreement, his eyes closed as he did so. Even he had feared Gaara, who had shown his inner demon during the exam.

"You beat him, though...and, you...saved me," Sakura said, a little downcast at the memory of finding out that _Naruto_ had saved her, and not Sasuke. Though she had been grateful (and still was very grateful to this day) she would have preferred her idol to have saved her, instead of her other team-mate.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, why so sad? I bet you wanted Sasuke to save you, eh?" He said, sounding a little disappointed himself. Luckily, Sakura caught this and corrected herself.

"What I may have wanted doesn't matter. What _does _matter is that you saved me from dying, and I'm still grateful to this day, Naruto-kun," the "kun" had sort of stumbled out of her mouth, as if she'd been thinking it but not planning on saying it, but had been unable to stop it from coming out. Her eyes widened a little in embarrassment as her cheeks flushed red, Naruto's going a little pink themselves. Kakashi gave a nervous laugh as Sasuke just closed his eyes again, and smirked, his arms crossed.

"Well, it's definitely getting dark out. I myself am tired, and want to turn in so that way, when I sleep in tomorrow, I'll have had maximum sleeping time," Kakashi said, stretching his arms into the air as he spoke, yawning from under his mask. As he brought his arms down, he stood up and waved good-bye to his students and friends, and then disappeared, definitely headed towards his house.

"I think I'm going to go home, too. It was great you guys. I hope we can do this every year," Sakura said, and she too waved good-bye.

"Good night, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, a big grin plastered on his face, his arm high in the air as he waved good-bye. Sakura smiled, wondering if that was a real smile or one of his fake ones.

"Hey, blockhead, I'm going to go too, but you're so weak, I think I need to walk you back to your house," Sasuke said in a mocking voice. Naruto glared death at him.

"I don't need you to walk me home," he said, his voice like ice water. Sasuke winced; whenever Naruto used this tone of voice, anyone who knew him winced. It was so...unnatural that it hurt to listen to.

"I'm just joking with you, Naruto. Well, anyways, good night. Do we have a mission tomorrow?"

"Nope, not tomorrow. Not yet, anyways. If we're lucky, maybe we'll get one. I'll have to talk to the old lady about it. Good night, Sasuke!" Naruto smiled again, and Sasuke too wondered if this was a real or fake one. He didn't much care though, and he jumped into the treetops and raced off towards his home, leaving Naruto behind.

And for Naruto, the look on his face would have been mortifying if anyone else had been there. And horrifying to them. As he slowly turned to go towards his apartment building, he let a lone tear slide down his face.

_Good night, Sakura-chan, good night, Kakashi-sensei. And...good night, Sasuke-kun._

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I know that I'm updating really soon, but I want to get the story started while it's fresh in my mind. And, just for anyone who's wondering, I hinted at the following pairings:

NaruSaku

SasuSaku

SasuNaru

KakaSaku

So we'll see. I know which one I'm going to use, but there were two that were highly suggested. See if you can spot them. Please review if you've read the chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I hate doing this, but whatever. I don't own Naruto, you know who does.

**A/N**: Chapter 3 is here! I know I took a few extra days, but I had a few school projects and reports due, so I didn't have any time to write. I won't give anything away for this chapter, but it'll (hopefully) be good. Enjoy!

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_Naruto was surrounded by darkness. He was wearing his regular pajamas, but he was in darkness. Looking around, he only saw black. It was as if his body was the only thing that could be seen. He heard a distant laughter. It sent chills up and down his spine. He wrapped his arms around himself as he started to walk in the cold, thick darkness. It was so very cold in this darkness. As he walked on, he heard the laughter get louder._

"_Sasuke?" he said out loud. The laughter amplified in his ears as Sasuke's face, tarnished by the cursed seal, appeared in front of him and glared at him. The laughter continued to mount while all he did was stare at the image of Sasuke. And soon, mixed in with the laughter was a god-awful chirping sound. It was horrible, this vicious laughter and the chirping of what sounded like a thousand birds. Naruto tried to run away from all this agonizing noise, but all he could do was run towards the unmoving, unwavering face of his closest friend. And all of a sudden, he felt a pain he'd only felt once before._

"Gah!" Naruto screamed as he shot straight up in his bed, cold sweat drenching his face and most of his body. His heavy breathing was all that could be heard in the room. He looked around and noticed it was still dark outside. "Not again..." he said, still panting.

It was then that he had noticed his most annoying unconscious habit; his left hand was clutching the skin of the right side of his chest. He felt a vague and dim soreness there, but it usually went away. All thoughts of that day always gave him the scariest nightmares and caused him unimaginable pain.

He sighed, and flopped back onto his bed, not bothering to move his left hand away from its unconscious destination. He decided to humor his subconscious for once. As he laid sprawled on his bed, staring at the ceiling, he thought about that fateful day.

"_Did your time with me and Team 7 not mean anything to you?"_

"_Konoha makes me weak. How have I grown by working with you guys?"_

Those words stuck out in his mind the most. The words that had told Naruto that Sasuke just didn't care. The mental pain hadn't gone away until the day that Naruto walked in on Sasuke crying in his hospital bed.

"_Naruto," he sobbed, "I'm so sorry...I'm s-so horrible..." he cupped his hands over his face, trying to shield the image of his teammate looking at him._

"_Sasuke..." Naruto whispered, staring in shock at his best friend, the emotionless Uchiha Sasuke, crying. "It...it's ok...now. It'll all be ok."_

_A loud sob, "No! It's not ok! I don't even deserve to talk to you..."_

"_Sasuke," Naruto walked over to the bed and put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "what's done is done. I can't change it, and neither can you. So you made an error, a mistake. I'm not hurt anymore, and you shouldn't be either. I'm the one who broke most of your bones; I should be apologizing to _you_." Naruto tried to smile, but he was so sad for his friend that he couldn't really manage. "There's no point in me dwelling on what you've done when it's no longer hurting me." And at those words, he really could smile at Sasuke._

_A very small sob escaped the Uchiha. "Really?" he asked tentatively, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands._

"_Really, really."_

_  
Sasuke gave a relieved chuckle. "Thank you, Naruto..."_

_Naruto only smiled, before saying, "My pleasure."_

Naruto smiled at the memory. He had to admit, though it was mostly filled with sadness, the few months after Sasuke had come back were euphoric. At first, he was in a constant panic that the Uchiha would die, and he knew it would be his fault. He wouldn't have been able to continue living as the same person if Sasuke had died. But Sasuke didn't die. And because of that, Sasuke became closer to Naruto and Sakura. Naruto didn't know who he was closest too, because he spent as much time alone with each of them as he did with the two of them together.

"_It's like I have a family again."_

Naruto always loved seeing Sasuke smile. Even when it was just a humored smirk, it always made butterflies flutter wildly in Naruto's stomach. He really did enjoy that feeling.

By this time, his hand had slipped off of his chest, the pain having receded along with the painful memories. It was starting to get brighter outside, and so Naruto decided that he should start getting ready for the day. He was going to have to make an early start if he was going to be convincing the old lady to give them a good mission. He laughed out loud.

"I really should stop referring to her as an old lady..." he said to himself, his voice trailing off as he got up out of bed to find his favorite orange jumpsuit. Collecting the clothes he was going to wear that day, he laid them out and then proceeded to take a shower. He relished in the warm water that cleansed him of his nightmare-induced sweat, and seemingly all his worries that had spawned the nightmare. He closed his eyes and sighed, and found himself thinking about Sakura.

"_Naruto...you brought him back!" Sakura came running towards the gates of Konoha, having seen the orange of Naruto's clothes coming rapidly over a hill not too far from the gates. Tears were flying off her face; it was apparent she'd been doing a lot of crying since the five man team had departed the day before. _

"_Sakura, do not come any closer!" Hatake Kakashi sounded scared and nervous. He was practically running towards the hospital. It was then that Sakura noticed that Naruto was unconscious over Kakashi's shoulder, while a very battered (and very unconscious) Sasuke was held gracefully in his arms. Sakura gasped; how hurt were they?_

_She was broken out of her reverie when people screamed at the sight of two battered boys on a man's body, and Sakura chased after him towards the hospital._

_When Naruto had come-to about an hour later in the hospital, his clothes removed and now dressed in hospital garb, he found himself since as soon as he tried to sit up. At that moment, his hospital room door slid open and in walked a very pale looking Sakura. She stared at him, tear trails glistening in the light of the room. Very suddenly, she released more tears and ran over to Naruto, giving him a gentle hug; she cried heavily onto his shoulder._

"_Naruto...I'm so...so glad that you're both back, and s-safe. I'm so v-very g-glad..." she continued to sob onto his shoulder; he was too dazed by all of his memories and pain to much care. He didn't even care that he felt his face get very warm, meaning that he was no doubt blushing at being touched by his crush._

Turning off the water to the shower, Naruto smiled at that memory. The day that Sakura had shown how much she cared for him. She hadn't said anything about just Sasuke, she didn't list him first, she had said "you're both back, and safe" and those words had meant the world to the young boy at the time. Wrapping a towel around his now dry body, he realized that he didn't quite know what words would mean the world to him nowadays. Hopefully, he just hadn't realized it yet.

Putting on his clean clothes, he went and took his forehead protector off his nightstand. Tying it one his head, he smiled, and then walked towards the door to his apartment and then raced down the stairs to the ground. When he reached the ground, he stared up at the dawn sky, and then dashed as fast as he could towards the Hokage Tower. He needed as much time to hound the Fifth as he could get.

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Yeah, I realize this chapter is a lot of exposition, not much happened, but I hope that it was still satisfying. I'll update within the next few days, since it's Memorial Day weekend and I'm not back in school until Tuesday. Please review if you've read this far!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I hate doing this, but whatever. I don't own Naruto, you know who does.

**A/N**: Here's chapter 4. Hopefully I end up writing this one with a little more fun and less exposition. But we'll see, since I write this part before I write the actual chapter. I hope you enjoy it anyways! D

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Naruto walked lazily through the nearly empty streets of Konoha. There were always a few early risers, and for the most part, he was on good terms with them. There were a few whom he wasn't very popular with. That man that threw the orange at him the day before, Hanu Sabu, was one of those who detested Naruto. The boy always felt a little saddened that they hated him so passionately when they didn't even know him. It made him disappointed in human nature, to hate what one doesn't understand. He had learned over the years to simply accept it.

"Good morning, Sabu-sama," Naruto greeted the disagreeable man warmly, as he did every morning. All Sabu did was glare at him from his porch, and after a minute or so went back to sweeping it. Naruto smiled to himself; the man was hopeless.

He passed other various people and places, always greeting his friends and enemies alike. For all that people hated about him, they all admitted (whether to themselves or actually to Naruto) that Naruto was a decent person worthy of some level of respect. He cared for those that hated him, and that set him apart. Sometimes it even made him wonder about himself.

_I'm too nice for my own good, _he thought to himself. Instinctively, his left hand rose to hold onto his right shoulder, as if to comfort that area of his body. He hadn't really noticed himself do this, because he seemed to do it all the time. Time heals all wounds, but sometimes, time takes its sweet old time. And though Naruto didn't notice it consciously, his subconscious was getting impatient. The frequency of this occurrence was steadily getting higher and higher. Why, he didn't know, for whenever he noticed, he also noticed the residual pain that accompanied it. But he usually brushed it off as an ache from over-training. That was the only reason he could ever think of.

Lost in his own thoughts, he barely noticed himself begin ascending the steps to the Hokage's office. The route was all too familiar to him. This was almost a daily routine for both him and the old lady. Getting to the top of the steps, he rounded the corner and started walking through the circular halls to her office. He had not yet lowered his hand; he usually did once he needed both of his hands to push open the Hokage's doors with the most drama. And that time had just approached. With a great heave of both hands, he "struggled" to get the doors open, and, not at all to his surprise, he found Tsunade asleep, her head resting on her desk, drool getting all over whatever she had been working on, and inevitably soaking ink into her skin for all to see when she awoke.

He took in a deep breath, and then he let it out in his favorite way. "TSUNADE-BAA-CHAN!" he shouted forcefully. "WAKE UP!"

"Wha? Whozere?" she shot her head up stupidly, her glazed eyes scanning the room. He had been right; something about restricting the number of missions a single ninja can do was written (mirrored) on her left cheek, which happened to be the one she liked to sleep on.

"It's me, of course!" Naruto said happily, a huge grin on his face. Tsunade gained her composure and wiped her eyes and cleaned off her face with a rather dirty rag and then smiled at him.

"Whattya want, brat?" she asked sarcastically and jokingly. This was part of their routine; she loved Naruto's morning visits that wake her up from her slumbers after having passed out from too much paperwork.

"What do you _think_ I want, _granny?_" he threw back teasingly.

"I don't know, that's why I asked, _punk_."

Naruto chuckled a little bit, and she joined him. It was a good laugh; not long, not loud, but good. Warm would be the word she'd use to describe it. It was a good word, she thought.

"I think you know what I want. I want..."

"To know if you have a mission today, right?" she finished his sentence for him. He just put his hand behind his head, the typical posture he made after she'd finish this sentence, and giggled a little bit.

"You guessed it!" he said through a laugh. She just smiled at her adopted brother. She loved the warmth he gave to the overly cold room after a chilly, early winter night.

"And..." she hesitated to add drama, "it just so happens..." he was on the edge of his seat, "that..." his eyes were huge, "you do..." his eyes lit up, "not have no mission today!" she finished. He couldn't help but laugh. And since he couldn't help it, she couldn't either. She found his laughter annoyingly, yet satisfyingly, infectious. And even when he wouldn't stop, it wasn't annoying it grew on you. It was insidious, and the most intriguing thing about Naruto's laugh was how much it told you about him if you knew its secret. The only thing infectious or insidious about him was the way everyone loved him after they got to know him.

"Old lady, old lady, what is it? Huh?" He bounced up and down excitedly in his chair as he asked his usual question. She chuckled a little as she smirked, and pulled out the D-rank list of missions that had yet to be brought out for actual use.

"Hmm, let's see..." she said, casually browsing the D-rank mission list.

Naruto looked scandalized, "What? A D-rank mission? You must be joking, Tsunade-baa-chan. You must be!" His usual repartee was right on cue.

"Oh," she said, as if he had jolted her back to reality, "you're right." Rummaging through the massive paper pile, she pulled out a list with purple "E"s instead of green "D"s.

Now Naruto was angry, "Oh no you don't! You put the _Academy_ level missions back where you found them, old lady Tsunade!" His fake irritation managed to make them laugh. They liked laughing, so it was ok.

"Alright, alright," she said, pulling out the B-rank list, which made Naruto's eyes light up, "today you and your team have an expensive B-rank mission, not unlike your mission to the Country of the Wave about two years ago. You are to escort a lost traveler, also an old friend of mine, out of the village and beyond the east border of the Wind country."

Naruto looked quite excited as he asked, "Who is this person? Huh? Who is he?"

Tsunade was amused, "His name is Kusari."

Naruto looked puzzled, "Is that it?"

Tsunade now smiled big, "Nope. You'll probably faint from hearing the last name."

"Tell me, tell me!" he asked eagerly.

"His full name is...Raikou Kusari."

She had been right, he had nearly fainted, but instead of fainting, he had merely toppled out of his chair, his forehead protector set slightly askew. "_The_ Raikou Kusari? The one who can slow down time so drastically he could kill hundreds in one second? The one who can manipulate people using the electric pulses in their bodies? _The only person to ever defeat Uchiha Itachi?_"

"The one and only," Tsunade said, smiling.

"But, I don't understand. Why would we need to escort him?"

"Simply put, he's hurt. Badly. He is unable to use his time manipulation technique, and his fight with Itachi a few months ago left his chakra circulatory system in shambles. It's because the fool had mercy on Itachi and didn't go all out just to kill him fast. He wanted to fight and have fun."

Naruto didn't understand how anyone could have fun fighting Uchiha Itachi, but from what he's heard about Raikou Kusari, anyone twenty-five years old with that ability had to be not just scary like he'd heard, but horrifying.

"But why are you assigning a Genin team to escort him?" Naruto was being uncharacteristically business-like. _Just like every morning_, Tsunade thought with a smile.

"Why? He requested it. He's posing as an innocent traveler. The Akatsuki is after him since he has put their strongest member out of commission for who knows how long. They want revenge. But they won't look for him if he's beyond the Wind country's border. Nobody really goes out there who has any real business in the world. But just be careful. I saw him last night and he's a little...odd right now. He's not himself, and though he's normally kind-hearted, his bad side seems to be a lot more noticeable, so watch yourself. I'll tell Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi the same thing when I officially give the mission later today. Now scoot, brat!" she said jocularly, and Naruto smiled and jovially exited the room.

_Too bad,_ she though, _he won't be here tomorrow morning._

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Well, I hope you liked it! Please read and review!

Raikou Kusari means "Lightning Chain". Its significance has been touched upon, and will be fully explained later.


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